Meghan Markle, a seasoned witness to the pitfalls of social media, shared her struggles with students from Australia's Swinburne University of Technology in the company of Prince Harry. As the Duchess of Sussex recounted her experiences, she revealed that for the past decade, she has been relentlessly bullied and attacked online. "For 10 years, every day, I have been the target of trolls from all corners of the world," she told the students, according to Reuters. "Yet, here I am, still standing."
Meghan highlighted that social media companies are not inherently motivated to stop harassment, a concern that resonates deeply with her as she envisions the future for younger generations. "When I consider all of you and what you're facing," she continued, "I realize that this billion-dollar industry thrives on cruelty to drive clicks – and that's not going to change. Therefore, you must be stronger than that."
This isn't the first time Meghan has spoken out against the online abuse she endured since dating Harry in 2016. She revealed that the worst of it occurred during her pregnancy with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, now aged six and four respectively. What should have been a "tender and sacred" time in her life, as she put it at a SXSW Conference in March 2024, instead became the "epicenter of bullying and abuse."
Reflecting on the motivation behind such hatred, Meghan said, "It's not merely catty – it's cruel. Why would you do that, especially when you're pregnant or have a newborn?" Thankfully, she believes her maternal instincts helped her weather the storm. "As a mother-to-be, your instinct is to protect your child and, by extension, protect yourself too," she recalled.
During that time, Meghan stayed away from social media for her own well-being. Indeed, she closed her personal Instagram account in 2018, the year she married Harry. "Ms. Markle is grateful to everyone who has followed her social media accounts over the years," a Kensington Palace representative told HuffPost at the time. "However, as she has not used them for some time, she has taken the decision to close them."
Since reactivating her Instagram account in January 2025, Meghan has kept her comment section off but hasn't hesitated to share glimpses of her and Harry's private world with their children.
